Error-prone Cowboys held scoreless as Titans win opening game

In a word, this match can be described as dour. Although we are not even through Round 1, some are calling this game the worst of the season, due to the amount of errors and dropped ball that took place, due to some rather humid conditions.

It was a scrappy game, with the Gold Coast Titans defeating the North Queensland Cowboys 18-0, thanks to a man-of-the-match performance from centre Jamal Idris.

Early on, it was errors galore for both sides, but it was the Cowboys who suffered the most, with the club having less than 50% of their sets completed.

Both clubs found the humid conditions tough to deal with, but Titans coach John Cartwright said that it was their defensive effort, that won them the game.

“Scrambled defence worked for each other and it’s hard to win up here, very tough. So to come away with the win we’re very proud of the boys’ efforts tonight,” he said.

“Every week is a different week but as long as you tackle like that you’re going to win some games.”

He also pointed out that keeping the Cowboys scoreless, was a great feat and made the win even more enjoyable.

“It’s the first time in the club’s history and I rate that side (the Cowboys) as probably the hardest side to defend against in the competition.

“Thurston, Bowen and Payne have as good an understanding as anyone and they score a lot of points so to keep them to nil at home especially in the horrendous conditions was fantastic.

On the other side of the coin, Cowboys coach Neil Henry lamented his sideâ€™s error-prone performance.